A Spanish study on "Crisis, Employment and Immigration in Spain" reveals that since 2008, the economic crisis in Spain was an "obstacle" to the professional integration of immigrants living in this country.
"The loss of job positions by immigrants and the deterioration of the quality and working conditions have had a negative impact on the professional integration of immigrants in the period ranging from 2007 to 2011,” reads the document prepared by researchers of the Centre of sociological Studies, based in Barcelona.
According to the report, immigrants have also been victims of "wage discrimination", which "blocked" the professional development of a generation of immigrants.
These conditions have forced millions of immigrants to return to their country of origin or to seek other destinations where working conditions are more favorable.
To remedy this situation, the authors of the study call for the establishment of a new policy for the foreign community in Spain, focusing on the training component.
According to the National Statistics Institute (INE), Spain, as of 1 July 2014, had more than 46.4 million inhabitants, 4,538,503 of which are foreigners. Thus, the foreign population residing legally in Spain has decreased by 3 pc, compared to January 2014, due to the economic crisis.